2/21 "The official poverty level is $19,307 for a family of four, $12,334
for a family of two. But the calculation includes only cash income
before deductions for taxes. It excludes capital gains and it does not
take into account accumulated wealth or assets, such as a home."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/21/politics/main1331693.shtml
\_ it depends on what the meaning of "poor" is
"the bureau said the rate might be as high as 19.4 percent, or as
low as 8.3 percent, depending on how income and basic living costs
were defined"

7/29 http://news.yahoo.com/study-finds-only-28-percent-173022359.html
Only 28% of millionaires consider themselves wealthy. So it is
not just my wife!
\_ People have been using the term "millionaire" as a synonym for
"rich" for a very long time. But there's this little thing called
inflation. Having a million dollars in 1900 is roughly equivalent
...

5/9 I'm stock newbie. Let's say I made $1000 in Jan 2012 and then
lost $1000 in Feb 2012, does that mean I'm not liable to pay
any tax given that I made $0?
\_ Yes.
\_ Are both long term gains/both short term gains? And I assume you
mean realized gains, i.e. you actually sold the stock in an
...

5/13 Does FDIC ever matter? How likely is it that your deposit of
over $250k going to be screwed over in a major US bank?
\_ Was Washington Mutual a major bank?
\_ Was Washington Mutual a major US bank?
\_ Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Good one.
\- As with nuclear weapons, this insurance produces much of its value
...

12/9 A public company (NASDAQ/NYSE) needs to publicly disclose
important information right? Is there a way to find data that
shows who owns most of the stocks, when they're dumping (to measure
their confidence in the company), and how many people are shorting?
\_ It has been a few years since I took a business organizations
course, but from what I remember, there isn't a requirement for
...

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www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/21/politics/main1331693.shtmlThe official poverty level is $19,307 for a family of four, $12,334 for a family of two. The Census Bureau acknowledges the issue by also announcing alternative poverty rates based on different measurements of income and poverty. This approach has fueled an academic and political debate, but has yet to produce policy changes. One outside analyst said he could cut the poverty rate in half using census data and a pocket calculator. But his exercise would change only the definition of poverty. "I know virtually no one who thinks the current poverty line is an accurate measure of poverty," said Rebecca Blank, co-director of the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan. Blank served on a National Academy of Sciences panel that recommended changes to the poverty measure 10 years ago. But the issue was too politically sensitive to resolve, she and others said. Some proponents of change want a higher poverty rate to encourage spending on the poor; others want a lower rate to make it easier to cut spending. "Everybody's got their favorite way of measuring it because the outcome fits their needs," said Martha Farnsworth Riche, who headed the Census Bureau under President Clinton. The Office of Management and Budget dictates how poverty is measured. But Congress has a keen interest in the issue because it affects so many programs, dollars and lives, Riche said. "The Census Bureau can't go around changing the poverty rate," Riche said. The official poverty level is used to decide eligibility for federal health, housing, nutrition and child care benefits. The official poverty rate helps shape national debate on the health of the country's economy. "There are hundreds of programs moving hundreds of billions of dollars in benefits that are tied to the poverty line," said Douglas Besharov of the American Enterprise Institute. Part of the problem is that the experts don't agree on how to define income and basic living expenses. The official poverty level is $19,307 for a family of four, $12,334 for a family of two. But the calculation includes only cash income before deductions for taxes. It excludes capital gains and it does not take into account accumulated wealth or assets, such as a home. It was based on a calculation of basic living expenses in the 1960s, and has been updated only to reflect inflation. The result is that a single parent making $13,000 a year is living above the poverty line, while someone with a $1 million house who takes a year off work to travel the world could be below it. The current system has defenders, but even many of those would like to see changes. John Cogan, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said the current system does a good job of gauging whether poverty increases or decreases from year to year. "Does that mean we should just ignore the country's poverty statistics? Among the proposals to change the way the government measures poverty: Add food stamps, health and housing benefits to incomes. The benefits were intended to decrease poverty, and they would if they were counted as income. Subtract taxes, child care and medical costs from incomes, increasing the poverty rate for working Americans. Count assets such as homes and securities when determining poverty levels, lowering the poverty rate for seniors on fixed incomes. Create regional poverty lines to account for the fact that some places are more expensive to live than others. Chuck Nelson, an economist at the Census Bureau said, "We see ourselves as the research arm telling people what the effect would be if poverty were based on different measurements. If and when the time comes to change it, people will have information." This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.